The news of Mark Erickson’s suicide in September hit the Phoenix music community hard. Erickson was a familiar face on stage, performing in local groups including ROAR, Gospel Claws, and Sweetbleeders. But it was Colorstore, the band he fronted for nearly a decade, that most reflects Erickson’s commanding, singular vision…
I base my life and my movements throughout it on quite a few assumptions. These may or may not be accurate, factual, or even realistic. And until they actually prove themselves to be inaccurate, I follow them without question. (Insert silly comment about assuming here.) Today’s rant is centered on…
This week’s Take Cover session is a little different, as it’s the first time we’ve featured a touring band. Kopecky Family Band drove 16 hours straight from Norman, Oklahoma, to the Musical Instrument Museum to play a few songs and explore the museum. Tonight the band is scheduled to perform…
The DIY method might be the record-releasing choice of local bands around the country — after all, the Internet opens all kinds of possibilities for self promotion, recording, and pressing — but increasingly, Phoenix artists seem to be signing to small labels. And it seems the Valley’s Mike Zimmerlich is…
Once a week Up on the Sun features a new comic strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and full-time dad Brad Dwyer. See the New Times print edition to check out the strip in glorious, inky newsprint each Thursday…
The news waits for no one — at least that’s what we read somewhere — so it’s perfectly understandable that you, the reader, might have missed out on a musical tidbit, breaking news about your favorite venue, or one of our rants. So enjoy this digest-style sampling of some of…
Of the many pearls of wisdom that Yoda dropped on Luke Skywalker’s ass in The Empire Strikes Back (“Size matters not,” “Wars not make one great”) it was the green-skinned Jedi guru’s Zen-like mantra of “Do or do not…there is no try” that probably resonates the most with Joe Maldonado…
Elizabeth Kennedy Bayer The composer hosts the podcast Trainwreck in Progress. Listen to it here. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? I drive a scooter! (You know, the orange one with the green, fuzzy seat.) So no…
Local Latin, reggae, and punk peddlers Fayuca have seen their fair share of success as a productive year comes to an end. Now the trio is ready to step up their game with a brand new album that’s almost within earshot. We document the band’s 11-year run in this week’s…
By Dan Moore Psy’s Gangnam Style is now the most-viewed YouTube video ever, and as we go to press Monday morning that means it’s been watched coming up on 830 million times. That means that the single biggest pop culture event of 2012–the video you’re most likely to talk about…
David Bazan was a pretty cool Christian in 2002. His band, Pedro the Lion (of which Bazan was the sole consistent member) had a string of impressive releases to its name, including 1998’s It’s Hard to Find a Friend and 2000’s Winners Never Quit, plus a couple of singles and…
John Reis’ musical résumé includes at least four defunct bands that people would pay lots of money to see today. One is Hot Snakes, a San Diego-based quartet that blends the simplicity of three-chord garage rock (à la the Wipers) with the downstrummed aural assault championed by Johnny Ramone. But…
“Fayuca” is Spanish slang for the contraband markets that spring up in Mexico. These are places where any assortment of illicit goods can be found and purchased, from televisions to leather jackets, prosthetic limbs to staple foods. And it is where that Phoenix’s reggae-punk-Latin rock band gets its name. “We’re…
Each Monday, Up on the Sun starts its week with a missive from cartoonist Brad Dwyer. Dwyer earned attention with his self-published collections, Epic Tales of the Mundane, and his Record Heat series for UOTS parallels the themes of Epic Tales…: melancholy, punk rock, geekery, and a bruised-and-battered optimism, all…
What is Bon Jovi up to these days? The New Jersey-based band is about to partake in the 12-12-12 fundraiser benefit show to benefit victims of Hurricane Sandy alongside Kanye West, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Eddie Vedder, and Dave Grohl. Jon himself worked…
By Alex Jarson Okay, we know you just love the Velvet Underground–you’re sporting the latest fall calendar Urban Outfitters top, your mom took you to get the Warhol Banana tattooed on your bicep, and you think they’re the greatest, most provocative band to have ever graced this earth. You even…
Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you stop…
My original aim in this blog was to document what kind of non-Rush shirts were worn by Rush fans at the band’s concert Sunday night. However, the results were fundamentally uninteresting. Kiss, Iron Maiden on the old guard, and on younger fans, modern proggy acts like Primus and Tool. There…
Once a week Up on the Sun features a new comic strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and full-time dad Brad Dwyer. See the New Times print edition to check out the strip in glorious, inky newsprint each Thursday…
As a whole, DJs have a tendency to be rather boisterous, rowdy and blowhardy lot, particularly when it comes to self-promotion. Not so with local DJ Rob Kwik. Truth be told, he’s a fairly laidback and chill cat who rather Zen and tends to let his music do the talking…
Garrit Ross The DJ invites you to the Electric Playlist Launch Party on Saturday, November 24 from 9 p.m. – 2 a.m. at the 5th Street Bar on Mill Avenue. For more information, go here. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station…
Center stage, her honey-brown hair falling in her face, Lauren Farrah crouches over her acoustic guitar. Her voice rises and falls in short bursts, echoing in the Icehouse in downtown Phoenix.The Roaring Twenties-era venue screams cool, post-apocalyptic chic with its stark, open-air rooms with towering concrete walls. She’s performing on…
